Perez-seoane
book holder



July 26, 1966 E. F. PEREZ-SEGANE 2 Sheet July 26, 1966 E. F. PEREZ-SEOANE 3,

BOOK HOLDER Filed Sept. 18, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent 3,262,667 BOOK HOLDER Eduardo Fleischner Perez-Seoane, 578 bis Avenida Generalisimo Franco, Barcelona, Spain Filed Sept. 18, 1964, Ser. No. 397,428 Claims priority, application Spain, Mar. 31, 1964, 298,226; Mar. 31, 1964 (utility model), 105,217

7 Claims. (Cl. 248-447) The present invention relates to a book holder suitable for holding a plurality of books in such a way that they are easily and conveniently accessible for use independently of each other and that they are housed and protected when not in use.

The holder is particularly useful for books of large volume and weight which are used rather frequently but not constantly. Typical examples are large catalogs, ledgers, telephone directories, dictionaries, and the like, which pass through many hands and would, therefore, be subject to quick deterioration.

A suitable holding device must have means which house and immobilize the books while not in use, means which impart to the individual books a use position convenient for the reader, and means whereby the books contained in the holder may be individually drawn out into reading position and returned into inactive position by a simple and fast motion. During use, the books should be adequately supported to avoid damage to the binding, and in inoperative position the books must be protected against accidental opening and manipulation.

The holder of the invention comprises a carriage which receives the book and which in operative position may take a position forming an angle of about 45 to the horizontal plane. This carriage is movable up and downwardly in a guide element into a straight vertical position, in which position the guide and carriage maybe turned around a vertical axis until they abut, or are parallel, to the wall or furniture to which the device is attached. If the holder is designed for holding several'books, a separate carriage and guide may be provided for each book whereby said guides must be so disposed as to prevent interference of the carriages with each other and to allow independent use of morethan one book.

The invention will now be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a holder in accordance with the invention, suitable for holding two books;

FIG. 2 is a front view of a carriage holding the books;

FIG. 3 is a side view of the device of FIG. 2;.

FIG. 4 is an elevation of the guide means of FIG. 1, and

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of details of a holder comprising three guide members.

Like reference numerals apply to similar parts throughout the several views, and the numeral 1 designates the book holding carriage proper, which is mounted in a guide member 2, which in turn is supported in a bracket 3. Said bracket 3 is secured to the wall or furniture which carries the holding device. The guide member 2 is arranged for rotation around an axis determined by the prolongation of the screws 4 securing said member to the bracket 3. In this way, the guide member 2 may pass from a position perpendicular to the wall to a position where the back of the guide and the back of the book carried therein lie parallel to the wall.

As seen particularly in FIGS. 1 and 4, the guide member 2 has a profile of rectangular cross section which is, in part, open in front and has the form of an L. Supporting rods 12, whose purpose will be explained below, extend'from the end of the horizontal leg 5 of the guide 2 to approximately the middle of the vertical leg 6. As

3,262,667 Patented July 26, 1966 the guide member has to support rather heavy loads whose vertical component acts on the end of the horizontal leg, it must be made of sufiiciently strong material to resist the stresses to which it will be subjected on careless handling of the books.

The book holding carriage 1 comprises a sheet or plate 7 provided at its ends with stops or end plates 8 to which rods 9 are screwed or otherwise secured. Said plates 7 support the backs of the books whereby the rods 9, which are placed between the pages, assist in holding the books against the plates. In the example shown, two books may 'be placed against the plate 7 but it will be obvious that only one may be used at a time. The plates 7 carry at their back roller means 10 in form of wheels or rolls; said roller means move along the casing defined by the guide member 2 and, in this manner, can bring the carriage 1 from the position shown in FIG. 1 into vertical position, as shown (omitting the other members) in FIG. 3. The frames or clamps 11 maintain the book closed when it is in vertical position, whereby said clamps are forced into their closing position by means of the rods 12. On the other hand, said rods serve as supports for the frames 11, and therewith for the book, when the book, in inclined position, is opened for use. In this way, the book is supported in a sufiiciently large number of places to avoid distortion and damage to the binding.

In inoperative position, the support carriage 1 is slightly forwardly inclined to prevent it from sliding to the inclined position and thereby permitting the book to open. It is sufficient to apply a slight forward pull and then to let it go to bring the book into use position, due to the gliding movement of the roller means 10 on the track formed 'by the guide casing 2.

So far, I have described a holder which allows the housing of two books, whereby only one of them can be used and the other remains closed. When-it is desired to use several books simultaneously, a modification of the device as shown in FIG. 5 must be'used. In said figure, three guide members or tracks 2 are shown, which each may be arranged to receive two books, as the corresponding member shown in FIG. 1, or only one book. Said guide members are so arranged in a bracket 3' that the books carried therein may be used independently from each other. For this purpose, the central guide is fixedly arranged while the lateral guides are mounted for rotation on vertical axes which are different from the axis of symmetry of the entire holder. Preferably, the guide members 2 are secured in the bracket in such a way that, in inoperative position, they are all parallel to each other, and preferably the bracket itself is mounted for rotation. In this way, several persons may use different books in the holder at the same time by turning the bracket and the individual lateral guide member around their respective vertical axes in different directions so as to bring the books into a position where they do not interfere with each other when used.

I claim:

1. A structure for swingably supporting books comprising (1) an L shaped guide member rotatable around its vertical axis, said guide member forming a track, (2) a book supporting member comprising a book rest for receiving the back of a .book, at least one longitudinal rod spaced in parallel relationship to said book rest for insertion between the pages of a book and for holding such book against said rest, roller means at the back of said book rest rolling in said track and transferring said book supporting member from a substantially vertical inoperative position into an inclined use position, and wings articulated to said book supporting member to swing outwardly and supporting a book in said use position, and (3) means holding said wings in book closing position when the book rest is in its vertical inoperative position.

2. A structure as claimed in claim 1 wherein said holding means are rods attached to said guide member substantially parallel to the inclination of the book rest in the use position, which holding means support said wings when in use position.

3. A structure as claimed in claim 2 wherein said book supporting member is adapted to receive a plurality of books.

4. A structure as claimed in claim 2 including a bracket for connection of the structure to a vertical wall, said guide member being secured in said bracket for rotational movement around a vertical axis.

5. A structure as claimed in claim 4 wherein said bracket holds a plurality of said guide members.

6. A structure as claimed in claim 5 wherein said bracket holds an odd number of guide members, the central guide member being stationary, the lateral members being rotatable around a vertical axis independently from each other.

7. A structure as claimed in claim 6 wherein said bracket is arranged for rotation on its vertical axis.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS CLAUDE A. LE ROY, Primary Examiner.

J. F. FOSS, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A STRUCTURE FOR SWINGABLY SUPPORTING BOOKS COMPRISING (1) AND L SHAPED GUIDE MEMBER ROTATABLE AROUND ITS VERTICAL AXIS, SAID GUIDE MEMBER FORMING A TRACK, (2) A BOOK SUPPORTING MEMBER COMPRISING A BOOK REST FOR RECEIVING THE BACK OF A BOOK, AT LEAST ONE LONGITUDINAL ROD SPACED IN PARALLEL RELATIONSHIP TO SAID BOOK REST FOR INSERTION BETWEEN THE PAGES OF A BOOK AND FOR HOLDING SUCH BOOK AGAINST SAID REST, ROLLER MEANS AT THE BACK OF SAID BOOK REST ROLLER IN SAID TRACK AND TRANSFERRING SAID BOOK SUPPORTING MEMBER FROM A SUBSTANTIALLY VERTICAL INOPERATIVE POSITION INTO AN INCLINED USE POSITION, AND WINGS ACTICULATED TO SAID BOOK SUPPORTING MEMBER TO SWING OUTWARDLY AND SUPPORTING A BOOK IN SAID USE POSITION, AND (3) MEANS HOLDING SAID WINGS IN BOOK CLOSING POSITION WHEN THE BOOK REST IS IN ITS VERTICAL INOPERATIVE POSITION. 